Fishing is a sport enjoyed by many people, both young and old; a pastime that is often considered both relaxing and exciting. The sport is exhilarating for both the novice and the expert. One of the first steps in fishing is to tie a fishhook on to a fishing line. Fishing line is fed through the eye of the hook and then is tied in one of a variety of knots. Eyes, however range in size from large to very small, which are often difficult to negotiate with the fishing line.
Numerous people, having poor hand-eye coordination enjoy fishing. Poor eyesight creates difficulty in seeing the eyelets, especially the small ones and leads to difficulty in aligning the line with the eyelet. Shaking hands make directional control over the line and eyelet difficult. Eyesight may be impaired as a physical manifestation of the angler or environmentally, e.g., darkness, rain against eyeglasses or other. Hand control may be impaired as a physical manifestation of the angler or environmentally, e.g., rocking boat, cold (causing shivering) or other. The combination between eyesight and hand control impairment relates to the difficulty in inserting the fishing line through the eye of a fishing hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,541 issued to Davis on Mar. 28, 2000 discloses a Fishing Line Threader. The device has a tapered interior wall, which guides the line to the hook opening. The hook eye is disposed at the bottom of the tapered wall. The device is attachable to the eye and crushable to remove it from the eye. The crushable feature makes storage of the device in a tackle box difficult. This device has problems in that it requires matching the bottom of the tapered wall up with the eye. An angler capable of such alignment may just as well orient the line up with the eye. The hard device does not form around the eye, leaving gaps where the line may be misdirected. Other inconveniences are also present with this device.
What is needed is a line threader suitable for using with round eyelets. The threader should be suitable for use with eyelets of a variety of sizes, be deformable to adjust to the size of the eye, be self-aligning and be non-crushable.
The present invention is a device and method for expanding the effective diameter of eyelets, which fits eyelets of different diameters. Preferably, it is water resistant, durable, compressible, resilient and lightweight.
The present invention is a fishing device that preferably includes a fishhook with an eyelet, a fishing line, a frustocone having a wall, the wall defining a large opening and a small opening, a notch in the wall adjacent to the large opening, the notch joining with a slit, which cooperative extend from the large opening to the small opening, the wall defining a second small opening adjacent to the large opening, and a lanyard attached through the second small opening.
The present invention is also a method including the steps of at least partially circumscribing an eyelet of a fishhook with a curved surface of a wall; and directing fishing line adjacent the curved surface, through the eyelet and then beyond the curved surface. The curved surface in cross-section may be dish-shaped, circular or a blend.
Advantageously, the present invention provides a funnel or frustoconically shaped member that circumscribes an opening or eyelet as opposed to the funnel being placed adjacent or into the eyelet.
As a further advantage, the present invention includes a threader that is formed of a compressible material into which the eyelet may embed such that the interior surface of the threader and interior surface of the eyelet are co-extensive.
As another advantage, the present invention has a threader that includes a v-shaped notch to guide an eyelet into the interior of a threader.
As yet another advantage the present invention includes a threader with a vertical slit such that the eyelet and line can be extracted generally perpendicularly to the central axis of the threader.
As yet another advantage the present invention includes a single piece homogenous threader.
As still yet another advantage a threader is provided with a guide for placing an eyelet in alignment with the threader and a guide for placement of line in alignment with the eyelet.